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By the standards of this list, I am more of a redwood forest expert than anything else here.

There's a lot more to do in a redwood forest than just name things. Not sure if you meant engineering failure, but if so you could talk about why redwood trees (and other kinds of trees) fall down. What kinds of structural weaknesses lead to catastrophic failure? Why are redwood trees susceptible to falling down in wind storms? Why do tan oaks fall over in the spring? Etc. Lots of opportunities for kids to build simple models of "trees" that stand up or fall down.  There are many  books and papers on the biomechanics/architecture of plants. You could invite a logger to come in and talk to the kids about how to safely cut down a large tree. Another fun project would be building a safe foot bridge over a tiny creek.

Jennie Dusheck
Santa Cruz, CA




On Apr 3, 2013, at 11:04 PM, Tara Chklovski wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Hello!
> 
> We are running an experimental science/engineering camp and were curious to
> see if the experts out there had any advice on resources or others doing
> similar things.
> 
> Here are some of the key features of the camp:
> 
>   - it will be held entirely in a redwood forest (in the san francisco bay
>   area)
>   - it will be for children 3 and up (so preschoolers and up)
>   - we want to move beyond just categorization and naming of flora and
>   fauna.
>   - we want to provide opportunities for children to experience process
>   and failure. for them to understand that designing and building models
>   requires many iterations. School doesn't provide many opportunities for
>   students to repeatedly come back to the same problem. there is usually not
>   enough time.
>   - we also want to provide opportunities for children to observe and
>   learn from experts.
>   - ideally, we would be able to have the little ones work with the older
>   ones and for the teams to design and build working models, conduct
>   experiments to answer questions they pose.
> 
> we have done similar sessions for preschoolers but with their parents.
> 
> so the biggest challenge and unknown is: how can we do these open-ended
> engineering type projects with preschoolers with limited motor control?
> 
> more information and detail on our rationale and philosophy:
> http://iridescentlearning.org/curiosity-summer-camp/
> 
> We would welcome any advice, tips on resources or pointers to experts!
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Tara
> 
> *Founder, CEO, IRIDESCENT*
> *www.IridescentLearning.org
> *
> 
> 310-309-0766, @tarachk <https://twitter.com/TaraChk>
> 
> *I IMAGINE. I INVENT. I ENGINEER. *
> *
> *
> 
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